Doctors Rooting For The Red Sox
September 26, 2005 – 12:54 pmA recent study published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine claims that Boston-area emergency rooms saw fewer patients when the Red Sox were winning in last year’s baseball playoffs. Specifically, the games that attracted the largest television viewership (e.g., the last few games in the Yankees series and all of the World Series games) were correlated with the lowest levels of emergency room activity. Games that were smaller television draws affected emergency rooms visits less drastically.
The Red Sox team president and CEO, Larry Lucchino, provided his own theory.
“Clearly, this study demonstrates that the Red Sox winning is good for the health of western civilization,” quipped team president and CEO Larry Lucchino.
The results make sense for several reasons. Dr. Wally Ghurabi, director of the emergency department at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, Calif., explains it best.
Ghurabi said the findings are a function of the fact that, by his count, 30 percent to 40 percent of visits to the ER are not true emergencies, but rather incidents that could theoretically be easily handled by a family physician. This, he noted, leaves room for a great deal of discretion when it comes to when or if an individual chooses to come to an ER for treatment.
The moral of this story? Watching baseball is not only a fun thing to do; it saves lives! Sort of. Okay, not really. I’m sure there is some moral to this story. I just don’t know what it is.
3 Responses to “Doctors Rooting For The Red Sox”
The moral is: in the event of a major disaster, like a hurricane or flu epidemic, the health services are inevitably terribly overloaded. So the correct response of the authorities should be to hold an immediate big-team baseball game. I’m phoning my congressman now to get the legislation in place.
By paul.za on Sep 26, 2005 at 8:04 pm
If you had a congressman, Paul.
Anyway, while this might help in Boston, it could be (and most likely is) counterbalanced by increased injuries in other regions.
By Adam on Sep 27, 2005 at 12:14 am
That would have been funny if doctors in New York or St. Louis had performed the same study during the same time frame. Maybe ER visits increased in those two cities as a result of people hitting their heads against walls in frustration.
By jjk on Sep 27, 2005 at 9:03 am